NTPC, Nalco to set up power, aluminium plants for Rs36,000 crore

New Delhi, Dec. 17 -- State-owned power producer NTPC Ltd and aluminium producer National Aluminium Co. Ltd (Nalco) on Friday signed a deal to jointly set up a 2.4 giga watt (GW) power plant and one million tonne aluminium production facility in Odisha with an investment of Rs36,000 crore, the companies said in a statement.
The proposed power plant at Gajmara will comprise three units of 800 mega watts (MW) each and will source coal from the mines operated by Nalco. The plants will have Nalco's factory at Angul as a power customer.
Formal joint venture and power purchase agreements will be in place by the end of the current financial year, the companies said in the statement issued after the deal was signed.
"The aluminium smelter project (that converts raw material alumina into aluminium) and the power project will act as a catalyst for industrial growth in the region creating direct and indirect employment for engineers, supervisors and skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers," according to the statement.
Power minister Piyush Goyal, who was present at occasion, said coal, which is sufficiently available at present, will make the new power project viable in Odisha and also enable production of aluminium cost competitive. "Today, aluminium use is going up in the automobile and aerospace industries in order to improve energy efficiency," Goyal said, adding that the joint venture was part of the 'Make in India' drive.
Oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was also present, said the government was committed to building these plants with the best clean coal technology available in the world to keep pollution under check.
Nalco chairman and managing director Tapan Kumar Chand said construction of the power plants and the aluminium production unit will be completed in four years.
The joint venture will strive to keep the cost of power generation to a minimum so as to benefit aluminium production, NTPC chairman and managing director Gurdeep Singh said.
NTPC is in the process of diversifying into the commodities business, besides venturing into clean energy and nuclear energy sectors.
The government had approved a deal between NTPC and Coal India Ltd in May for setting up three fertilizer factories with a total investment of Rs20,000 crore. State-owned Indian Oil Corp. Ltd is expected to join the project for which state-owned Fertilizer Corp. of India Ltd. will provide land. The power producer also has a joint venture with Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd (NPCIL) for establishing two 700 MW nuclear power plants in Gujarat.
Published by HT Syndication with permission from MINT.